A report released by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics on Oct. 24 shows that not only did violent crime rise nationally by 13.5 percent, but most of those crimes weren’t reported to law enforcement.

Property crimes, driven by theft, are up 11 percent.

And though national numbers display consecutive years of rising crime, locally the situation is a little different.

While the 2011-2012 statistics for Lenoir County may seem statistically insignificant, they represent a trend of declining crime over the last several years. Lenoir County Sheriff Chris Hill said for Jan.1-Oct. 30, compared to the same time in 2011, motor vehicle theft is down 45 percent, robbery down 29 percent and theft down 18 percent.

Assault is down slightly.

“What I think we are seeing is a ‘leveling-off’ of crime nationally,” Hill said. “I know that crime has been steadily decreasing for the past 20 years, but nationally, that may now have ceased. While our crime numbers have decreased in the Lenoir County, it does not mean that in a matter of months the trend cannot reverse itself.

“There are going to be all kinds of theories as to why crime has stopped decreasing nationally and it will take a lot of research and analysis to get a good handle on it.”

Kinston Department of Public Safety Director Bill Johnson noted a 90 percent drop in murder over the two years, along with a 22.9 percent drop in burglary and an 18.2 decline in robberies. He said interagency cooperation under Project 61 – which grew out of efforts to combat a spike in violent crime in 2011 – and more effective community policing helped.

“We have received, really, just tremendous cooperation from the community in the form of information, which really helps us a lot in what we do,” Johnson said. “Obviously, most of the time that we’re called, once we get there, it’s after the fact.”

He added, “So, as far as being able to provide us with descriptions of suspects, and that type of information that we really, really need to try to help and solve things, the community’s really stepped up and helped us with that.”

Another reason the BJS statistics and the ones locally diverge is the national report took into account unreported crime, which can be significant.

Nationally, in 2012, 66 percent of property crimes, 56 percent of violent crimes and 46 percent of serious violent crimes were never reported to law enforcement. While minor thefts and simple assaults are more commonly not reported, so are serious violent crimes, which include aggravated assault, robbery and sexual assault, and when these crimes are part of a domestic violence incident.

“That has been an ongoing issue for many, many years, in communities across the country, as a matter of fact,” Johnson said. “But, sometimes, there are various reasons why people don’t – sometimes they don’t feel that the crime rises to the level that they need to report it.”

He continued, “At other times you have – and especially, you see that more and more in recent years – you have some crime victims that may have a relationship with a suspect, or with the person that victimized them.”

Sue Proctor, executive director of SAFE (Safety from Abuse and Family Education) in Lenoir County, said sometimes victims seek assistance, but they don’t want to involved the legal system.

“A lot of times, though, rather than report it to law enforcement, they will come and they will do a protective order – 50B – and have the abuser evicted from the residence,” Proctor said. “But, we really are seeing a lot more – maybe sometimes they’ll come into the shelter until the incident blows over.”

The term “50B” refers to the state law on domestic violence protective orders.

Regardless, Hill said the ability to know what crimes happen where and when is a positive step forward.

“All we can do is encourage people to report a crime if they become a victim,” Hill said. “While the sheer volume of crime is in question, what is not mistakable is the evolution of law enforcement’s ability to properly record and report crime events for analysis and publication. In those respects, compared to reporting from 50 years prior, law enforcement has made great progress.”

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.